AI generatedn° 815, asia
Siem Reap, cambodia.
For nomads who want a 2-3 month Angkor-adjacent base with the easiest visa in Southeast Asia and accept that the town runs on tourism.
- cost / mo
- $824
- internet
- 50 Mbps
- visa-free · eu
- 30 days
the scores
Four scores, seven components each.
Each ring is a weighted blend, click any of them to see the seven components that produce it.
your monthly budget
default $700–$4,500 range · drag to personalize
score priority
balanced weighting, cost 25%, infra 40%, lifestyle 35%
weighted blends of cost, internet, safety, climate, english, visa & social density. Default cost band: $700–$4,500/mo. 100% data coverage. Each ring is clickable, see exactly why a city scored what it did.
monthly cost · solo nomad
Tier 3 · estimate (no verified rent yet)Rent · central 1 BR | – | $495 |
Food · groceries + modest dining | nis.gov.kh | $130 |
Mobile · 20 GB plan | cellcard.com.kh | $8 |
Utilities · electricity + heat + water | eac.gov.kh | $50 |
Transit · monthly pass regional avg fallback | – | $18 |
Coworking · 4 days/month baseline 12/day × 4 days/mo regional estimate | – | $48 |
Buffer · 10% for variance + occasional weekend trips | – | $75 |
Total solo burn | sum of above | $824 |
Every line above sourced to a public primary reference. Tier 1 = all components verified for this city/country; Tier 2 = rent verified + country-baseline components; Tier 3 = approximate. Solo nomad baseline assumes one person, central 1-bedroom, modest groceries, 20 GB mobile, 4 paid coworking days/month. Where the rent basis above notes a private-market premium, expat condo budgets run higher than this baseline.
in one sentence · curated
Hand-written by the ExpatWhy editorial team.
Siem Reap is the small town that sits next to the largest religious monument on Earth, a hyper-touristed Cambodian provincial capital where the visa is the simplest in Southeast Asia and almost nothing else is.
editorial
The case & the friction.
The case is the access to Angkor and the price. The temple complex (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, Banteay Srei) is a 6 km bicycle ride from the town center, and a $72 7-day pass gives genuine multi-day exploration. A furnished apartment or small villa in Wat Bo, Sala Kamreuk or Sok San Road runs $300-$550 monthly. Coworking is small (around 15 spaces in OSM), AngkorHUB, 1961, with the cafe network in Kandal Village absorbing most demand. Cambodia's visa is unusually easy: 30-day tourist e-Visa, the Ordinary Visa (Type E) extendable in-country for 1-6-12 months and convertible to an EB business visa with minimal scrutiny, a long-standing grey route Cambodia tolerates.
The friction is infrastructure thinness. Internet runs 30-80 Mbps in most rentals (fiber rollouts uneven outside core hotels), power cuts during the April-May hot season are common, and the road outside the inner ring is dust or mud depending on month. The town's economy is roughly 80% tourism; service quality is high in the tourist core, thin beyond. Khmer Riel and US dollars run in parallel, ATMs charge $4-6 per withdrawal. Healthcare is genuinely limited, Royal Angkor International is the only credible option, and Bangkok evacuation for serious cases is standard.
Air is mostly clean (PM2.5 ~15-20 µg/m³ annual) with March-April dry-season burning peaks. No quake or typhoon exposure. Female safety pipeline-rated 5/10; long-stay female nomads report Siem Reap quiet but limited.
verdict
For nomads who want a 2-3 month Angkor-adjacent base with the easiest visa in Southeast Asia and accept that the town runs on tourism.
work & connectivity
Getting work done.
work-friendly density · OSM
Strong for laptop work.
coworking spaces
0
wifi cafés
47
In practice: Workable but thin, 0 coworking spaces and 47 wifi cafés. A hotel-with-desk or one good coworking membership covers most days.
© OpenStreetMap contributors · Overpass API · ODbL 1.0 · 2026-05-22
tax & stay reality · Cambodia
Stay past 182 days, become tax resident.
residency trigger
182
days in 12 mo
top marginal rate
20%
on highest bracket
scope
Worldwide
Worldwide income taxed
expat / nomad regime
No dedicated nomad regime; standard worldwide-income taxation if resident.
tax treaty with
Cambodia taxes residents on worldwide income at progressive rates up to 20%. Very limited treaty network, Singapore, China, Thailand, Vietnam, France are primary partners. Easy long-stay via business visa renewals doesn't itself confer tax residency.
Sources: country tax authority + Wikipedia "Taxation in Cambodia" (CC-BY-SA) · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Verifywhen to visit
Twelve months of weather.
best month
Jan
Visit in January, 26°C, only 2mm of rain.
Off-season July–August, monsoon brings 323mm/month, and hotel rates typically drop 20–40% from peak.
temperaturerainfallcurrent monthbest month
air quality · 12 months verified
When the air turns.
Hourly PM2.5 averaged by calendar month from Copernicus CAMS satellite data, window 2025-07-08 → 2026-07-07. WHO annual guideline is 5 µg/m³.
annual mean
13.3µg/m³
Good
worst month
Apr · 28 µg/m³
Unhealthy (sens.)
cleanest month
Sep · 7 µg/m³
Good
annual swing
22 µg/m³
Highly seasonal
Cleanest air in September (7 µg/m³); worst in April (28 µg/m³).
Annual mean 13.3 µg/m³ is moderate, sensitive groups (asthma, kids, elderly) should time longer stays to the cleaner half of the year. The 22 µg/m³ swing between worst and best month is large, month-of-travel matters more here than in stable cities.
Source: Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) via Open-Meteo Air Quality API · CC-BY 4.0. Modelled, not measured at a station: near coasts CAMS counts sea salt as PM2.5 and reads high against ground networks. Read the curve, not the absolute.
natural risk
The numbers other sites don't show.
seismic risk · 50 yr · 200 km
No M5+ ever recorded nearby.
M5+ events
0
M6+ events
0
largest
–
In practice: No M5+ quakes recorded within 200 km in 50 years, earthquake-bag and insurance aren't decisions you need to make for this city.
Source: USGS Earthquake Catalog (public domain) · counted within 200 km, last 50 years.
tropical storms · 46 yr · 200 km
Low cyclone exposure.
named storms
21
cat 1+ hurricanes
0
In practice: 21 named storms tracked in 46 years, but only 0 reached hurricane strength, light exposure, mostly a planning footnote for beach trips.
Source: NOAA IBTrACS v04r01 (public domain) · unique storm IDs within 200 km since 1980.
–Siem Reap is the small town that sits next to the largest religious monument on Earth, a hyper-touristed Cambodian provincial capital where the visa is the simplest in Southeast Asia and almost nothing else is.
quality of life
Sun for more than three thousand hours a year, almost no grey winter.
3,550
hours
Derived from ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis · 12-month sum
Velasco LGBT+ Policy Index
Asher & Lyric Index 2024
ERA5 reanalysis · 12-mo derived
derived from monthly rainfall
vs Berlin 09–17 · Asia/Phnom Penh
–For nomads who want a 2-3 month Angkor-adjacent base with the easiest visa in Southeast Asia and accept that the town runs on tourism.
ExpatWhy editorial
what to know
Pros & cons.
pros
- Budget-friendly for solo nomads
cons
- Slow average internet speeds
- Safety concerns, research neighborhoods
- Limited English, learn basic phrases
- Short visa-free stay (<60 days for EU)
visa & stay
How long can you stay?
- digital nomad visa
- No, not yet
- visa-free for EU passport
- 30 days
- visa-free for US passport
- 30 days
visa figures as of August 2026 · verify with official immigration sources before traveling
before you go
What to plan around.
Drawn only from the verified figures on this page, the things worth knowing before you book.
US passport: short visa-free window, 30 days
US passports get 30 visa-free days. For a longer stay, plan an extension or a border run before day 30.
EU passport: short visa-free window, 30 days
EU passports get 30 visa-free days. For a longer stay, plan an extension or a border run before day 30.
Pronounced wet season
Rain peaks around Jul, Sep & Oct, up to 323 mm in the wettest month. Time a visit for the drier half of the year.
Tropical storm exposure
21 tropical storms passed within 200 km over 46 years. Avoid peak storm season and check that travel insurance covers weather disruption.
Cost is a modelled estimate
Living costs here are a purchasing-power estimate, not locally verified prices. Treat the total as a starting point and add a buffer.
compare side-by-side
Siem Reap versus three popular alternatives.
you might also like
Where to go next.
Closer on the map, closer on the wallet, or closer on the way it feels.
closest on the map
Other cities in Southeast Asia.
Same sub-region, short flights, similar climate, comparable visa landscape.
asia
7.4Koh Chang, thailand.
A budget asia option with a nomad-visa pathway.
asia
7.4Koh Kood, thailand.
A budget asia option with a nomad-visa pathway.
asia
5.8Phnom Penh, cambodia.
A budget asia option with limited visa-free access.
closest on the wallet
Other budget cities, different continent.
Same band as Siem Reap, budget (under $1,500/mo), outside asia.
latin america
7.2La Fortuna, costa rica.
A budget latin america option with a nomad-visa pathway.
latin america
7.2Monteverde, costa rica.
A budget latin america option with a nomad-visa pathway.
middle east
7.2Yerevan, armenia.
A budget middle east option with workable visa-free EU access.
closest on the way it feels
Same wellbeing, different climate.
Cities that score like Siem Reap on quality-of-life but trade tropical for something else.
middle east
7.3Muscat, oman.
A mid-tier middle east option with limited visa-free access.
north america
6.9Dayton, united states.
A budget north america option with workable visa-free EU access.
north america
6.8Syracuse, united states.
A mid-tier north america option with workable visa-free EU access.
where Siem Reap ranks
Siem Reap also makes these lists.
The cheapest cities for digital nomads
solo nomads live for ~$824/mo here
Seismically safest cities for long-term moves
no M5+ earthquakes within 200 km in 50 years (USGS)
The sunniest cities for digital nomads
3,550 sun hours / year
Cities with zero or very low personal income tax
top marginal personal income tax: 20%
Cities with dedicated nomad / expat tax regimes
No dedicated nomad regime; standard worldwide-income taxation if resident.
frequently asked
Siem Reap, honest answers.
- How much does it cost to live in Siem Reap per month?
- A solo nomad in Siem Reap runs roughly $824/month, broken down as rent $495 (estimate), food $130, mobile $8, utilities $50, transit $18, plus coworking and a 10% buffer. That puts it in the budget tier globally.
- What is the tax situation for nomads in Cambodia?
- Tax residency triggers at 182 days in any 12-month period. Residents are taxed on worldwide income. Top marginal personal income tax is 20%. No dedicated nomad regime; standard worldwide-income taxation if resident. Verify current details at the country's tax authority, link on the city's Tax & Stay card.
- What visa do I need to live in Siem Reap?
- EU passports get 30 days visa-free; US passports get 30 days. Longer stays require a residence permit or remote-worker visa, verify at the country's official immigration site.
- How is the air quality in Siem Reap?
- Annual PM2.5 averages 13 µg/m³ (Copernicus CAMS satellite data), which above WHO target but moderate. The 12-month curve on this page shows the seasonal swing, many cities have a sharp burning season or winter inversion that doesn't show in the annual number.
- Is Siem Reap safe for solo female travelers?
- Cambodia scores 5.0/10 on the Asher & Lyric Women's Danger Index, moderate, read recent reports for specific neighborhoods. Country-level scores; major cities often differ from country averages, especially by neighborhood.
- When is the best time to visit Siem Reap?
- Jan typically scores best on our combined comfort index, average temperature 26°C, low rainfall, high sunshine. Each city's Climate Chart on this page shows the full 12-month picture.
- Are there earthquakes in Siem Reap?
- No M5+ earthquakes have been recorded within 200 km of Siem Reap in the last 50 years according to the USGS Earthquake Catalog. Seismically clean, one of the safest cities on this metric.
- Do people speak English in Siem Reap?
- Cambodia scores 59/100 on the EF English Proficiency Index, patchy outside business; basic local language helpful.
Every answer is built from this city's verified pipeline data, Copernicus CAMS, USGS, NOAA IBTrACS, country tax authorities, EF EPI, Asher & Lyric, OpenStreetMap. No marketing copy.
where it is
Siem Reap on the map.
Siem Reap, Cambodia, Asia.
13.3633, 103.8564
Map tiles & data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
primary sources · click to verify
Every number on this page comes from somewhere.
- Vision of Humanity GPI· CC-BY 4.0Vision of Humanity, Global Peace Index 2024
- EF EPI· free non-commercialEF English Proficiency Index 2024
- Author-curated· facts listStatic dataset: digital nomad visas (curated 2025-05)
- World Bank· CC-BY 4.0World Bank Open Data, NY.GDP.PCAP.CD
- Author-curated· facts listCurated cost calibration (Bangkok-anchored, 2025-05)
- Open-Meteo (ERA5)· CC-BY 4.0open-meteo.com (current + 2024 archive)
- Velasco LGBT+ Policy Index (OWID)· CC-BYLGBTQ: Spartacus Gay Travel Index 2024 + ILGA Rainbow Europe 2024
- Asher & Lyric Danger Index· editorial use w/ attrib.Female safety: Asher & Lyric Women's Danger Index 2024
- OpenStreetMap· ODbL 1.0OpenStreetMap contributors (Overpass API, ODbL)
- Copernicus CAMS· CC-BY 4.0Air quality: Copernicus CAMS via Open-Meteo Air Quality API (CC-BY 4.0)
- USGS Earthquake Catalog· public domainSeismic: USGS Earthquake Catalog (public domain)
- NOAA IBTrACS· public domainTropical storms: NOAA IBTrACS v04r01 (public domain)
- ppp-estimate:region-base-rent (Asia)
- Speedtest Global Index· display w/ attrib.Speedtest Global Index Q1 2026 (Ookla), fixed-broadband median upload
We aggregate from public primary sources only. Composite scores (nomad / solo / family / wellbeing) are derived using our own formula, see methodology. Full license map at /LICENSES.md.
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